
Canberra City Plan, Canberra, Australia, Plan
<p>In 1912 Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin won one of the largest international competitions in modern history to design a new capital city for Australia at Canberra. Their entry intertwined the natural features of the site—three mountains and a river turned into a man-made lake—and axial Beaux-Arts–inspired plans. The design was intended to avoid the indifferent sprawl of the gridded industrial city for one anchored by views of landmarks and future monuments, while celebrating the democratic character of the new capital. As a new urban space created out of nothing, Walter Burley believed that their design was a model for the city and country of the future.</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1912
- Medium
- Ink on linen
- Dimensions
- 104 × 76 cm (40 15/16 × 30 in.); Mounted on heavy linen backing: 112.5 × 85.5 cm (44 5/16 × 33 11/16 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Artist
- Marion Mahony Griffin
Artist

Photography
Marion Mahony Griffin was an American architect and architectural delineator who pioneered the integration of landscape design with residential planning in early twentieth-century practice. Working alongside her husband Walter Burley Griffin, she developed a distinctive approach to organic architecture that emphasized the relationship between building and site through careful topographical study and hand-rendered presentation drawings. Her watercolor renderings and landscape plans for the Griffins' projects, including their design for Canberra, Australia, established a visual language that prioritized spatial continuity and ecological sensitivity.
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More by Marion Mahony Griffin
World Fellowship Center. Conway, New Hampshire
1942 · Black and red ink on linen
Transforming Chicago into a Livable Industrial Center, Chicago, Illinois, Design Drawings
1942 · Graphite and black and red ink on linen
The Magic of America
1937 · Typescript papers, printed papers, photomechanical prints and black and white photographic prints
United Provinces Exhibition of Industry and Agriculture Pottery Arcade, Design Drawing
1936 · Blueprint copy on paper
Shop Bungalow, Castlecrag, Australia, Multiple Views
1924 · Ink on paper
Tree Study Number Eight: Eucalyptus Tree
1919 · Ink on linen
Record
Verified by WattsOS- Artist
- Marion Mahony Griffin
- Year
- 1912
- Medium
- Ink on linen
- Dimensions
- 104 × 76 cm (40 15/16 × 30 in.); Mounted on heavy linen backing: 112.5 × 85.5 cm (44 5/16 × 33 11/16 in.)
- Watts ID
- WW-1912-070665
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified





